The continued unearthing of long-buried sexual assaults within Hollywood has led to a massive reassessment of not just the power structure that enabled this abuse but also the media produced by people in the know. Older movies, TV shows, and even one-off jokey asides are worth looking at with fresh eyes now that we know the nature of the people working on them. Anthony Rapp’s accusation that Kevin Spacey sexually assaulted him when he was 14 years old—accusations Spacey responded to by coming out of the closet—casts the actor in a new light. Seemingly way ahead of that was a joking aside from Family Guy way back in 2004:
In it, Stewie comes running through a mall screaming, “Help! I’ve escaped from Kevin Spacey’s basement!” Whether or not this was one of the show’s signature non sequiturs or a knowing attack is unclear, but footage of Seth MacFarlane making an informed joke about Harvey Weinstein’s alleged sexual predation previously made the rounds a few weeks ago. While announcing the Oscar nominees for best supporting actress in 2013, he congratulated them, saying, “You no longer have to pretend to be attracted to Harvey Weinstein.” He responded to renewed interest in the joke by saying it “came from a place of loathing and anger”:
